Floyd O'Neil fellowships awarded to two EH students

Gardiner Brown and Morgan Lawrence receive Floyd O'Neil fellowships from American West Center

The American West Center at the University of Utah awarded Gardiner Brown and Morgan Lawrence, both Environmental Humanities master’s students, Floyd O’Neil Fellowships for 2020-2021. This fellowship in honor of the late professor Floyd A. O’Neil is awarded to students conducting research in the American West and provides financial support for student work.

Gardiner Brown's reseach work focuses on the impact of Hurricane Harvey on Houston residents with disabilities. His work, tentatively titled After Harvey: Reading Disaster Response with Critical Disability Studies asks what kinds of aid public and private systems of disaster relief in Texas offered, what disabled Houstonians' experiences of Harvey were, and what disability studies as a field can offer to our understandings of disaster events and the landscapes we live on.

Morgan Lawrence's work, tentatively titled Spectral Saline: Essays on a Vanishing Great Salt Lake examines how anthropogenic changes to the Great Salt Lake ecosystem have affected the ecology of Gunnison Island, particularly as they pertain to American White Pelicans. Her work also calls attention to life that persists in the Great Salt Lake in spite of harmful environmental practices and neglect.

As a Floyd O’Neil Fellows, Mr. Gardiners and Ms. Lawrence can seek guidance and additional research support from the American West Center. In recognition of this support, both will present research findings at the American West Center in Spring ‘21. Environmental Humanities is grateful for the support of the American West Center and a proud beneficiary of Floyd O'Neil's legacy.